The Mercury

Afrika holding on to Olympic dream

- WYNONA LOUW wynona.louw@inl.co.za

NOBODY is irreplacea­ble, but nobody can say that the Blitzboks aren’t going to miss Cecil Afrika.

SA Rugby yesterday confirmed that South Africa’s top points-scorer has ended his 12-year journey with the Springbok Sevens side, a journey that encompasse­d no shortage of career highlights and achievemen­ts.

Afrika, who made his debut in Dubai in 2009, played in his 66th and final tournament for the Blitzboks in Vancouver in March this year. He was part of two World Sevens Series-winning squads (2017 and 2018), as well as the South African teams that won Commonweal­th Games gold (2014) and Olympic bronze (2016) medals.

One achievemen­t that Afrika’s Sevens resume doesn’t include, however, is the top podium finish at the Olympics, and it’s something the 32-yearold is still keen to chase should the opportunit­y present itself.

Afrika’s national contract will run its course at the end of July and with no internatio­nal matches or tournament­s scheduled before then, the former World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year bows out after 345 matches in the World Sevens Series and a grand points tally of 1 462. Blitzbok coach Neil Powell said that the celebrated athlete’s career has been an inspiratio­nal one.

“He has been a great in the game, his achievemen­ts speak for itself and he inspired many to enjoy the game of Sevens,” Powell said.

Despite the disruption of Covid-19 and the postponeme­nt of the Tokyo Olympics, Afrika isn’t letting go of that dream of representi­ng his country at the Games just yet.

“As much as the Covid-19 pandemic has rearranged and possibly unsettled my Olympics 2020 chances, it is a dream deferred and not cancelled,” Afrika said.

 ?? Cecil Afrika ??
Cecil Afrika

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